Streaming in reception

[rumtumtugger]

This seems deeply unfashionable nowadays - what are the pros/cons of streaming/not streaming from reception?

Really? Are you sure? As in one room has the clever kids in and the other not so much??

I think calling together little progress based groups is pretty common but I've never seen streamed Reception classes.

When I was at school up to Y2 the two classes were split by age. I personally wouldn't want that for my August born DS as he is holding his own very well in a class where there is only one other summer born and ALL the other kids are 6months+ older than him.

Reception is meant to be play based learning. You don't need to stream kids playing! Also their age makes a big difference in the first year or two. Someone born in July or august would have only just turned four so would obviously perhaps not be as advanced as a five year old. Putting them in a low stream is going to set them up for a life time of low expectations. Streaming is definitely not necessary in infant classes regardless of if you think its good for older kids.

Oop, I misread the OP and thought it said streaming at YR WAS fashionable.

It's not 'unfashionable' rumtumtugger, it's just bad practise.

Streaming is pointless at all ages because it assumes that if you are good at one thing, you are good at another. I've met too many children with a real talent for one subject but no aptitude in another.

Setting can be beneficial, especially as children get older and the ability gap widens. In reception I would expect this to be in class setting eg children grouped according to ability.

Erm well apart from the obvious point that a lot of 'ability' at this age is 'development'. I also think that the age thing is a white elephant dd was in an age-split reception class but once they got into Y1 the difference between the 2 classes in terms of achievement interestingly seems little to me.

So do it if you like but it doesn't hold anyone back or advantage the older ones (or perhaps the teaching of the younger class was better ) whether it helps anyone I also doubt!

Those who want streaming at reception are usually those who think their kid is the more clever one.

Honestly, reception isn't just about academic learning. There's social and physical skills being learnt too. Let children be children!

Has any school ever streamed that young?

We don't stream the classes but we do stream within the class. For writing, some of the children are learning to write their name correctly where as others are learning how to use punctuation in their writing.

Differentiation within the classroom is widespread (and good practice).

But that's not streaming.

Putting older children into sets for some subjects is also not streaming.

And OP: what is your interest in this? When (and where) was it 'fashionable'?

My interest in this was that I visited a primary yesterday that did this from reception, in literacy and numeracy. Think they must have streamed within classes. The head was at pains to say that they constantly assessed the streams and moved children about accordingly.

Every other school I've visited is at pains to say that they don't stream. Didn't get to ask their reasoning for this so asking here.

Did she actually say streaming? That's called setting and normally used in a multi-form year group for certain subjects. Streaming would be one class working at a higher level in all subjects and another class working at a lower level in all subjects regardless of whether some children are stronger or weaker in some areas. Very unusual I would've thought if this is a state school.

Yep she used the term 'streaming'. It's very much a state school

Our school did it for phonics (only) in the second term of Reception I think. They have smaller groups with teaching assistants taking some and teachers taking larger groups - a small group of the the ones that were really ahead (think September birthdays and being able to read well before they started) were taken off by a teaching assistant, the ones really struggling (i.e. Still not managing to blend any sounds at all) were taken by a teaching assistant and the majority 'in the middle' taught by a teacher in larger groups. I don't think the children realise they are streamed that young and it's not based on how clever they are - just on using the best methods to teach them at the right pace at this stage.

Again, that's not streaming, just setting for phonics.

I'm not sure the original poster was distinguishing but the only time I have ever seen true whole class streaming then is when I was at school in the year before GCSEs.... (And I had friends at plenty of other schools that were 'set' not 'streamed'.). All the schools round us, primary, prep, secondary state and private do not do streaming - just setting.

It sounds more like what is more commonly known as setting.

Setting is fine in reception, and is often needed more in reception than it is higher up the school. Some children start school being able to read, some children start without ever having hear of the alphabet and unable to recognise their own first initial.

I would have worried about sending my child to a school that didn't teach in ability groups because they both have high ability and I know it can be difficult for teachers to do as much as possible for the highest achieve big children while at the same time doing as much as possible for the middle and lower achieving children. But if they had been more in the middle I'd probably have preferred a school that didn't use ability grouping.

I would be worried about sending my child to a school where the Head didn't know what streaming is..........i..

Well, yes! That too!

That is absolutely horrendous practise! Poor kid in the last seat. Did you go to school in the 50s? That would not be allowed these days or at any time in the last 30 years probably. Ofsted would have a field day.

Isn't setting within a class ability grouping? Setting would be across classes surely. And ability grouping happens within mixed ability classes or within ability sets.

My kids school streams in reception, for certain things - kids are pulled out for phonics, maths, literacy and the top 3 from each class work together with a TA/teacher for these things, the bottom (for want of a better phrase) 3 from each class work together with a specialist teacher (paid for with PP money) who is full time learning support. But the groups are very fluid and kids swap into/out of the groups as needed.

They also rearrange the classes every year so the children get very used to mixing as a year group rather than as a class.

You can't stream in certain things. Streaming means doing all subjects with a particular ability group. Which is clearly bonkers. Setting is doing each subject with an ability group- which is not bonkers. But is not always appropriate.